


How To Remain Intimate While Raising Kids

by JosephThropp



Category: Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart (Cartoon)
Genre: Established Relationship, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Nothing explicit here but the sex is definitely alluded to, Sleeping Together, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:14:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22169989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JosephThropp/pseuds/JosephThropp
Summary: A quiet morning to train is all Mao Mao really wants. Unfortunately, life is rarely so simple. Especially in the company of both Badgerclops and Adorabat, the latter of which is convinced that the Sheriff's HQ is besieged by ghosts.
Relationships: Badgerclops/Mao Mao Mao
Comments: 10
Kudos: 91





	How To Remain Intimate While Raising Kids

**Author's Note:**

> There's been other things I've been needing to write but I've become plagued by the New Special Interest that is Mao Mao.

“Maaaooo? Can you go deal with Adorabat? She’s outside trying to burn down the headquarters and I really just can’t deal with that today.”

Mao Mao sighed and sheathed his sword as he turned away from the dummy he was practicing on, turning to see Badgerclops poking his head into the dojo’s entrance. Mao Mao had only been practicing for a few minutes when he’d been interrupted. Pretty par for the course, admittedly. If it wasn’t one bout of chaos around here, it was another. Even chaos induced by his own partner and deputy it seemed.

“Why is Adorabat trying to burn down the headquarters? And also, how is she trying to burn it down? Didn’t we take away her lighter last month?” There had been an incident which resulted in a mutual decision by Mao Mao and Badgerclops to indefinitely revoke Adorabat’s access to any kind of fire-starter. For safety.

“Beats me, man. I just found her freaking out when I woke up. She’s yelling about how the building is haunted or something.” Badgerclops shrugged his shoulders as he fully stepped into the room, giving a yawn as he did so. Mao Mao had thought he’d been the first out of bed this morning, as per usual. Badgerclops had still been sleeping peacefully at his side, but he’d noticed Adorabat wasn’t on the couch where she’d been last night. “Also she stole one of my welding torches.”

“Ugh.” A groan was all Mao Mao could muster up in response as he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. So much for a quiet morning spent training. Looks like making sure that the HQ isn’t burned down was the new top priority on his itinerary. He could only hope that they could wrap all this up as quickly as possible, and without any destruction.

Of the many questions Mao Mao had, the most prominent one was why in the world would Adorabat think their headquarters was haunted? “Were you two playing Bloody Mary in the bathroom again?” His eyes narrowed as he took a step closer to Badgerclops, very suspicious of Adorabat’s sudden fear. One didn’t just develop a fear of ghosts overnight, after all.

“What!? Dude, no way! I told you already, that game is messed up! I should never have let Pinky teach me about that mess!” A sound enough explanation. Mao Mao could still remember having to soothe his sobbing partner after discovering him and Adorabat in the bathroom that day. Nope, definitely not that, then.

“Hmm. Very well, I’ll go take care of it then. You get a fire extinguisher in case she gets squirrely.” Mao Mao made for the door at a brisk pace, fully intent on attending to this in a timely manner. He stopped short in the doorway, suddenly turning around and looking to Badgerclops with a slightly worried expression. “You don’t think this is about her sheets, do you? Or maybe last night…?”

“Huh? Nah, man. I put the sheets back on her bunk after I got up. And she was waaaay past zonked out when I went to the bathroom beforehand last night.” Badgerclops waved off the suspicion, convinced it was too far-fetched. “No way she caught on, don’t worry about it.”

Mao Mao let out a relieved sigh, having been horrified at the prospect of Adorabat putting two and two together and realizing just what he and Badgerclops had been up to last night. She’d seemed ignorant enough when she’d flown out of the room and towards the couch after hearing that she was going to sleep there, blanket clutched in her fangs. Maybe even excited at the prospect of getting to watch a little extra TV before bed.

Typically they had strict rules about screen time before bed, but Mao Mao had made an exception last night. Any additional noise was welcome, in fact. Anything that might keep Adorabat distracted until she was safely asleep. Even with that, though, Mao Mao couldn’t help but feel nervous for the better part of the night. It had taken a lot of coaxing on Badgerclops’s part to finally get him to relax a bit and get into the swing of things.

The sound of Badgerclops’s jovial chuckling broke Mao Mao out of his musings, causing him to look up at his companion. Mao Mao didn’t like the look of the smile on his face. “I really gotta hand it to you, though. That idea about telling her that we had to clean her sheets was pretty devious, especially coming from you!”

“Y-You don’t know what you’re talking about, anyone would have come up with it! It was simple!”

“I dunno, man. I remember being pretty stumped on how to get her out of the room for a night until you piped up with that little plan. Telling her that we needed to wash her sheets, haha! It’s like, c’mon, Adorabat! You don’t even lie on the bed, why would we ever even wash your sheets?” Badgerclops stepped up and wrapped an arm around Mao Mao’s shoulders, pulling him close in a sideways hug. “You’re like, super creative when it comes to discreetly getting some Badgerclops lovin’!”

That little quip was enough to get Badgerclops a quick shove, enough for him to relinquish his grip on Mao Mao. The now flustered cat gave a frustrated little growl as he spun around on the spot, turning to hide the obvious blush now visible across his face. He began to march out of the dojo, stopping only to bark out one last order.

“GET THE FIRE EXTINGUISHER!”

“Hah. He’s cute.” Badgerclops’s smile didn’t falter as he watched Mao Mao finally make his leave. He gave an affectionate little sigh as he finally headed inside as well, pondering about where the fire extinguisher might have been.

* * *

Out in front of the headquarters, Mao Mao did find Adorabat on the grass in front of the porch, just as Badgerclops had said. She clutched the handle of a welding torch, with a small and comically stuffed suitcase at her side. Her wide eyes darted left and right rapidly, clearly scanning the headquarters with rapt attention. The scanning stopped as her eyes settled on Mao Mao, watching him step out the front door.

“MAO MAO! Get away from there! The HQ is haunted! We gotta BURN IT!” Adorabat accentuated her point by turning the torch on, causing it to hum as it spit out a short blue flame. Even without her actually making a move, Mao Mao definitely didn’t like the look of that. He dashed down the steps and up to his deputy.

“Adorabat, give me that!” It was easy enough for him to snatch the torch from Adorabat’s wing, grabbing the fuel tank as he did so. “Also, if you steal a welding torch you have to steal a welder’s mask, too. You could burn your face.” Adorabat whined pitifully as she watched the torch taken from her and set behind Mao Mao.

“But Mao Mao, you don’t understand! There’s ghosts inside there! We gotta get rid of them!”

“How would a fire get rid of ghosts, they don’t even have-!” Mao Mao stopped short in his explanation. Why was he even trying to argue this point? He gave another sigh as he knelt down in front of Adorabat, attempting to get to her level. Easier said than done, considering how close to the ground she was. “Alright, just…” He struggled to find the right words for the situation. He wanted to be delicate enough to avoid frightening her any further. “Just...try to explain to me why you think there are ghosts here.”

The bat cast her gaze downward for a moment, feeling a bit chastised in the whole situation. Maybe she hadn’t thought this all the way through. She’d just been so surprised by what she’d heard that it had seemed like a necessary precaution at the time.

“I heard them last night.” She eventually piped up, looking up at Mao Mao with her wide eyes. “I went to bed on the couch when you needed to wash my sheets, but I woke up and heard ghosts!”

“What did you hear?” Mao Mao quirked a brow as he crossed his arms over his chest, genuinely curious about what might have woken her.

“How the heck didn’t YOU hear it?! They were haunting the BEDROOM!” The little bat suddenly shot up, flying up into the air as she yelled down at Mao Mao. She flew down close to his face, staring into the cat’s green eyes with an intense gaze. “They were moaning so loud, and then they started banging on the walls!”

A moment of silence passed between them as realization started to set in. Mao Mao’s eyes narrowed with confusion, only to widen substantially as he fully grasped just what Adorabat was referring to. 

Ohhhhhh. Oh, no.

A vivid blush returned to Mao Mao’s face as he stood from his kneeling position, thoughts already racing through his mind as he reached for any kind of explanation for this. There was absolutely no way he was going to let Adorabat know what happened last night, that went without saying. But what to say, then? He was painfully bad at improvisation, and he wasn’t coming up with any new ideas. 

“Adorabat, I…” His voice wavered as he desperately reached for any kind of explanation for why he and Badgerclops would be moaning while the bed hit the wall. That was a lot easier said than done, though. He bit his lip for a moment before finally bursting out with the only thing that came to mind. “Adorabat, that was just Badgerclops and I!”

Mao Mao had clasped both hands over his mouth as soon as he’d said it, already regretting his honesty. Damn his strictly moral impulses. The confusion that showed on Adorabat’s face had him sweating right away. Oh no, she was going to question it. Mao Mao was in absolutely no place to stand up under any kind of questioning.

“Whaaaaat? Why were you moaning?” Adorabat flew a quick circle around Mao Mao, giving him a thorough once over. She looked just as confused as she came back around in front of him, furrowed brow and all. “You and Badgerclops look just fine, were you in pain?”

Being scrutinized under that curious gaze was not making things any easier, that was for sure. He racked his brain for any legitimate painful situations that wouldn’t need any further elaboration. Any kind of questioning and Mao Mao was certain he would only falter even more. No obvious solutions came to mind, though. The best idea he could come up with was a flimsy one, that he and Badgerclops were just…

“Stretching!” His voice came out in a near squeak as he finally answered her, unsure how well the explanation would stand up. Adorabat could be gullible, but even she had her limits. Mao Mao certainly wouldn’t have believed himself in this situation if he was an observer. “Mutual stretching, helps keep you limber and alleviate soreness. Yes, it’s an old art that Badgerclops and I have been practicing for years.

Ugh, such a lame excuse. Mao Mao couldn’t possibly see how she could ever buy it. He was surprised when a smile came to her face and her eyes suddenly brightened. Wait, had that just worked?!  
  
“Ohhhh! I get it now!” Her smile faltered again though, enough to have Mao Mao slightly on edge. “But then, what about the wall? Were you hitting it?”

“...Replacing the drywall. Badgerclops was just fixing a hole I made.”

“How’d you make a hole?”

“Killed a spider.”

As he said a silent prayer that he’d finally covered everything, Mao Mao was so grateful to see Adorabat land back on the ground with a bashful expression. For now, he could be happy that she was still a little naive sometimes. It would probably continue to save him in situations like this for a while. Preferably he could just be a little more cautious and avoid these confrontations altogether, though. The pressure was unbearable.

“Oh, then I guess there’s no ghosts in the headquarters after all.” Adorabat dug her peg leg into the soft dirt as she looked down, clearly embarrassed by the whole thing. It made Mao Mao feel a little bad for his little white lies, but this was still so much better than the alternative. Even if she was out fighting hideous monsters everyday, this was an important part of her innocence that she deserved to keep for a while longer. “I’m sorry. I guess I should’ve talked to you before assuming stuff.”

A great weight seemed to be lifted off Mao Mao’s shoulders now that this was all diffused. He finally let himself relax a little as he reached down to pat Adorabat’s head. The whole thing had left him feeling a little on edge, but he was sure that returning to his sword practice would resolve that in no time.

“That’s alright, Adorabat. Next time you can apply a little diligence and resolve things in a less destructive way.” Mao Mao gestured behind him towards the welding torch, which he moved to pick up. “Come on, we better get this stuff back inside.”

“YEAH!” Adorabat did her part, swooping down to grab up her overstuffed suitcase, dragging it along behind her with some effort. Mao Mao regarded her with a smile as she struggled her way up the steps, opening the door for her as he stepped up alongside her. “I shoulda’ realized it a lot sooner. After all, it was obvious after all the noise settled down.”

“Oh yeah? How’s that?”

“After that, I heard the kissing! Ghosts don’t kiss, duh!”


End file.
